Success has put Burns, Aztecs at a crossroad

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Though Beth Burns is sitting pretty, she’d still like to know where she stands.

Fresh from a run to the Sweet 16, San Diego State’s women’s basketball coach figures to be in strong demand this spring. She figures, too, to be in a position to make some demands of SDSU. At issue is what kind of commitment the university can make to a coach whose program raises banners but bleeds revenue.

“You sit down with (new athletic director) Jim Sterk and ask, ‘What do you want out of your women’s basketball program?’ ” Burns said last week. “I have to know. You’ve got to know.

“One thing I said to (former AD) Mike Bohn is, ‘How good do you want to be?’ I didn’t want to either jeopardize myself or jeopardize them. If you just want to be respectable, have a top-division finish in the Mountain West, it’s too hard.”

Burns has twice built elite programs on Montezuma Mesa, and virtually from scratch, but obstacles linger and frustrations fester. She is mindful that some of her Mountain West Conference rivals are traveling by chartered aircraft when her team is making connections on commercial flights. She expressed concerns about the turnover at the top in the athletic department — “If you count interims, I’ve had five ADs in five years,” — and about the efforts made to market her team.

Perhaps this was just a case of a coach recognizing the opportunity to wield some leverage to enhance her program. Or maybe this was an early warning sign of professional wanderlust.

Much as Burns has accomplished at SDSU, there’s been a dramatic disconnect between her on-court success and her ability to attract an audience. Though the Aztecs finished 23-11 this past season, their average home attendance plunged nearly 29 percent from the previous year, to 914.

By comparison, the Tennessee women’s team averaged 12,254 at home this season; top-ranked Connecticut, 10,260. Though the women’s game continues to struggle for spectators on many campuses, the 328 Division I programs averaged 1,612 per game in 2008-09. SDSU’s rising stature in the women’s game is in stark contrast to the size of its constituency.

“I think there’s going to have to be creativity to get people to come to games,” Burns said. “Then it’s on us to sustain people to come to games. But we have to have that investment ... and that’s not our job.

“Administratively, someone is responsible for getting it done with a staff of people. It’s people. You know, I can only speak to so many groups of people. I can leave them all fired-up, and then the enthusiasm dies on the floor if there’s not people there to follow up (with) ‘Come to this event and do this and do that.’ ”

She paused for a moment, and then continued with a clarification:

“I’m not pointing fingers,” she said.

In his search for solutions, Sterk is considering creating a ticket package that could include admission to most or all SDSU athletic events, with the possible exception of men’s basketball. Given the feeble following of Aztecs football, it’s hard to imagine much of a market for that sales pitch. Still, there may be some symbolic value in showing Burns some administrative love.

“My intention is to keep her as long as she wants to stay,” Sterk said. “My job is to be sure she feels (comfortable). “You don’t want to go backward. This program has done a great job of elevating San Diego State regionally and nationally, and we want to continue that way.”

Wanting, however, is not getting. With California’s budget crisis forcing cutbacks throughout the state, finding new funding for a program that already operates at a deficit may be difficult. Though Sterk plainly prizes Burns — and was hired largely because of his knack for generating revenue — it is as yet unclear what he may be able to promise her.

Burns has two years remaining on the five-year contract she signed in September 2007, and though that deal provides for merit raises, its foundation is a starting base salary of $175,000. Burns could probably double her income were she willing to relocate.

Bohn, who hired Burns for her second stint at SDSU, is reportedly negotiating a termination package with Colorado women’s coach, Kathy McConnell-Miller. Since Burns is a former Colorado assistant, it might not be rash to connect those dots, particularly since McConnell-Miller’s salary is $360,000.

“I love the university,” Burns said of SDSU. “I love our president (Dr. Stephen Weber). I’m comfortable here. I understand a lot of things, so I love it here. But I have to see what San Diego State wants. What do they want? I don’t know ....

“As we’ve had different changes, you don’t have to worry that someone is going to come in here and say, ‘I’m not interested in men’s basketball.’ That’s not going to happen. I do (have to be concerned). How do I know?”